Memory problems, often blamed on chemobrain or cancer stress, are a frequent topic of conversation in my office. As I have said many times before, most people don't experience this as a major lasting issue, although many people feel blunted and less mentally sharp during treatment. It is easy and pretty obvious to blame that on fatigue and stress and anxiety and lots of medications. Once treatment is done, almost everyone gets back to baseline fairly quickly. The lasting issues, the "why did I come into the kitchen?" thoughts, are generally normal human experiences.

I have met this week with several women who are anticipating starting chemotherapy, for the first time, in the next few weeks. As we all remember,this is a very scary time, and everyone wonders about ways to prepare. In all honesty, there really isn't much that needs to be done other than eating a normal/light breakfast or lunch on that first treatment day and showing up on time.

Since I will be traveling much of tomorrow, I am doing tomorrow's blog approximately twelve hours early. This is a fascinating piece from the New York Times about the very beginnings of cancer. When I wrote about statistics a few days ago, I admitted not having a great math record, and, sadly, that is also true of science. The older I have become, the more fascinated I have become by the natural world and science and sometimes wish that this particular spark had been lit in high school.

It is important to remember that the uproar over drug costs does not only apply to cancer drugs. As increasing numbers of specifically targeted drugs receive FDA approval and come to the market, there are increasing numbers of drugs that cost more than $100,000 for a year. Even someone with "good" insurance can easily end up being responsible for $20,000-$30,000 of that expense. That kind of money is impossible for many people and extremely difficult for many others. That kind of money is the equivalent of a mortgage or college tuition or lots of groceries and heating oil.

I was never a math person, and that has changed only minimally as I have gone on with life. I have learned that I am smart enough to figure almost anything out, and I suspect that a different culture (meaning one that was more supportive and positive about women in math and the sciences) would have made a difference to me in high school. But the fact remains that I would surely fail the geometry part of the SAT if I took it now (and an interesting aside: a journalist friend wrote an article about this some years ago. In preparation for his essay, he studied for the SATs and then retook the test in his early 50s. He did almost exactly the same as he had at age 17.) This is relevant, or slightly relevant, as we consider cancer statistics. (and I did well in statistics in college)